Radio swap (Page 1/2)
Benster JAN 26, 11:17 AM
Hey everyone, I just got my hands on my first Fiero, its a 1985 GT, overall I don't know enough about the wiring in the car to consider a possible radio swap or repair, right now the radio in it is out of a 85' Cadillac Eldorado, of which the GM dealer put in when the car was sold (have the receipt). The radio works but the cassette player is broken. I think its a broken band because it keeps making a clicking sound when a tape is put in. I'm hoping to keep a cassette player in the car as I have a bunch of 80's music id like to listen to with it (maybe a replacement OEM radio), hopefully repair the current radio in the car if you know anything about it, or just put a newer Bluetooth screen in it as long as I don't have to dissect the car to get the wiring working. If you got any recommendations or just general knowledge, let me know. Thanks in advance.
cliffw JAN 26, 12:45 PM
I have had my stock radio repaired, locally. Which needed a cassette drive band.

Search online for automobile radio repair in you area.
cliffw JAN 26, 12:47 PM
I forgot my manners. Congratulation on your first Fiero, and welcome to the forum.
82-T/A [At Work] JAN 26, 01:51 PM

quote
Originally posted by Benster:

Hey everyone, I just got my hands on my first Fiero, its a 1985 GT, overall I don't know enough about the wiring in the car to consider a possible radio swap or repair, right now the radio in it is out of a 85' Cadillac Eldorado, of which the GM dealer put in when the car was sold (have the receipt). The radio works but the cassette player is broken. I think its a broken band because it keeps making a clicking sound when a tape is put in. I'm hoping to keep a cassette player in the car as I have a bunch of 80's music id like to listen to with it (maybe a replacement OEM radio), hopefully repair the current radio in the car if you know anything about it, or just put a newer Bluetooth screen in it as long as I don't have to dissect the car to get the wiring working. If you got any recommendations or just general knowledge, let me know. Thanks in advance.




Hey Benster, there's a bunch of radios that you can buy on eBay that are either meant for the Fiero, or will basically swap right in.

Here's a really nice one, that matches the Fiero's interior:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196966285431




There's several on eBay... so you can kind of take your pick. They're all around anywhere from $150 to $400. The one I linked to above has been modified, which allows you to pair it with your phone or any other Bluetooth device (which is wild). Which means you can still use a cassette if you want, as well as AM/FM radio, or you can use Spotify or whatever from your phone too and play it in your Fiero's radio.


I'm a bit more old-school, so when I bought a radio for my daughter's Fiero, I got basicaly the same thing as above, but it had a separate AUX jack (no Bluetooth). So I bought her a cable that allows her to connect her iPhone to the radio directly (or any other device). She also wanted the cassette... which apparently all the kids really like cassettes now because it's retro... hahah. When I was younger, I couldn't want to upgrade my cassette to a CD player.

Another thing to keep in mind, the radios that were sold in Pontiacs would light up RED... not always the digital read-out, but the "night time" lights on the radio would always be red. So when buying one, make sure you get a Pontiac one. There's no way to tell unless they include pictures of it lit up at night


Only other thing you'll need is this kit... it allows you to connect this radio (I linked above) directly to the factory wiring which yours is probably using:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304752214425


... and you'll need these clips: https://www.ebay.com/itm/176709199240


You may also want to swap out the speakers too... which we can help with also... just tell us the year and model you have... the speakers changed in 1986 from the 1985 model. Also, tell us if you have a "Performance Sound" slider bar in your overhead console on the ceiling (in the middle).
Vintage-Nut JAN 26, 02:51 PM
If you like analog music, think about refurbishing the factory Declo unit:

New Fiero Radio Needed by ContinentalGT
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/100892.html

*To me, one of the biggest advantages of analog technology is that it does not compress the signal and is often the better choice for those who value sound quality.

------------------
Original Owner of a Silver '88 GT
Under 'Production Refurbishment' @ 136k Miles

[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 01-26-2025).]

Patrick JAN 26, 05:00 PM

quote
Originally posted by Benster:

I'm hoping to keep a cassette player in the car as I have a bunch of 80's music id like to listen to with it...



As a fellow lover of 80's music... the best advice I could give you is to digitize the music on those old cassette tapes (or find higher quality audio files online), and either put them on CD (which itself is now kind of old-school), or simply load all the music you have onto a single USB thumb drive.

Cassette tapes were okay back in day... but they're prone to breakage, rewinding and/or fast-forwarding is time consuming, and flipping over the cassette is a nuisance.
Mike in Sydney JAN 27, 09:53 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

... and flipping over the cassette is a nuisance.



Auto-reverse. A great invention on cassette players.
Patrick JAN 27, 10:28 PM

quote
Originally posted by Mike in Sydney:

Auto-reverse. A great invention on cassette players.



Okay fine, auto-reverse helps ... but cassette tapes/players are just so inferior to CDs, USB thumb drives, and Bluetooth (which I should've mentioned in my previous post).
Benster JAN 27, 10:56 PM

quote
You may also want to swap out the speakers too... which we can help with also... just tell us the year and model you have... the speakers changed in 1986 from the 1985 model. Also, tell us if you have a "Performance Sound" slider bar in your overhead console on the ceiling (in the middle).



Thanks for all the suggestions, I've got a 85 gt with the radio from a 85 El Dorado (pic attached) that was installed at the dealer. For the radio I definitely want to keep the cassette player as at least for my generation it's retro and just a cool thing to have in a car. About the "performance sound" slider, I definitely don't have one, and for replacing speakers, unless its necessary or easier than I think, I have no idea how to wire the car or how to get the the speakers in the headrest. Either way thanks for all the suggestions and if you have the link to the radio with the aux port instead of Bluetooth that may be the move for me.
Patrick JAN 27, 11:18 PM

quote
Originally posted by Benster:

...and for replacing speakers, unless its necessary or easier than I think, I have no idea how to wire the car or how to get the the speakers in the headrest.



I wouldn't worry a whole lot about the headrest speakers. I would imagine though, that if your dash speakers are original, the paper cones are probably all totally shredded.